Funding Arts Broward’s (FAB) “Black & White: A Night At The Museum”

Funding Arts Broward (FAB), a nonprofit organization committed to preserving and cultivating the arts in Broward County, will present its fifth annual “Black & White: A Night At The Museum” special event on Monday, April 25, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. This elegant black and white themed cocktail party at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale will feature an exclusive exhibit tour, live entertainment by Dillard High School Center for the Arts students, light bites and a decadent dessert table.

Attendees will have the opportunity to experience Lux et Veritas, a FAB-funded exhibit, at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale on a private tour by Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator of NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. Lux et Veritas explores a transformative period in contemporary art by focusing on a generation of artists of color who attended Yale School of Art for graduate studies between 2000 and 2010. The exhibition’s title alludes to Yale University’s motto, “Lux et Veritas,” which translates from Latin to “Light and Truth.” In the context of this exhibition, the title references how these artists thought with critical complexity about their work and their movement through institutional structures. Featured artists include Mike Cloud, william cordova, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Abigail DeVille, Torkwase Dyson, John Espinosa, Luis Gispert, Rashawn Griffin, Leslie Hewitt, Loren Holland, Titus Kaphar, Jamerry Kim, Eric N. Mack, Wardell Milan, Wangechi Mutu, Mamiko Otsubo, Ronny Qevedo, Mickalene Thomas, Anna Tsouhlarakis, Shoshanna Weinberger and Kehinde Wiley.

As with similar programs, Yale School of Art, in New Haven, Connecticut, had not been historically diverse, which spurred these art students to form affiliations across the departments of painting, graphic design, sculpture, photography and art history. They filled gaps in the school’s curriculum and counteracted the lack of diversity among the faculty by inviting artists, curators and writers of color as advisors and guest speakers, developing an interdisciplinary forum, publishing art journals, organizing exhibitions and documenting their experiences in video and photography. The relationships they formed at school evolved into communities that networked and provided essential support and feedback for one another, often passing on these efforts beyond graduate study. Their reevaluation of the Western art canon, and commitment to the method and practice of teaching has contributed to a greater recognition of artists of color, challenged stereotypes and enriched the overall shared spaces of learning and thinking about art and the art praxis.

Lux et Veritas provides a public forum in which to address the directions these artists took based on the explorations that began in graduate school and were instilled thereafter in their practice. The exhibition is curated by Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator, NSU Art Museum. Mike Cloud (Yale, MFA 2003), william cordova (Yale, MFA 2004), Leslie Hewitt (Yale, MFA 2004) and Irene V. Small, associate professor, Contemporary Art & Criticism, Princeton University (Yale, Ph.D. 2008) are advisors on the exhibition. Oral histories with the artists who attended the School of Art provided significant insight into their experiences, relationships, and work.

Lux et Veritas is presented by S. Donald Sussman and sponsored by Funding Arts Broward.

Champagne and cocktails, culinary delights, and selections by DJ Israel Charles, arts and music program director at Dillard High School Center for the Arts, will add to this festive event. Guests are encouraged to dress in their favorite black and white cocktail attire.

This event is for FAB members, friends and public supporters of the arts. Tickets for “Black & White: A Night At The Museum” are $75 per person and are available at https://bit.ly/FABNightAtTheMuseum2022. For more information, please call (954) 353-7673 or email fundingartsbroward@gmail.com.